Saturday, May 14, 2011

Back-Road Through Paradise

Hello Friends,

I'm Bach in 'town' again for awhile - when I left for the North in mid-April I travelled the back roads skirting the Namib Desert, past Sossusvlei:



I wonder if this Horse has a Name? ... in the distance, almost center, is the 'Alien Communicator', the subject of an earlier post.


I ruined two days of images because I didn't check my camera settings and the pics turned out all grainy, I'm posting some of them anyway.


Most of Namibia has had a very good rainy season and grass plains stretch as far as the eye can see.

The grass grows and seeds quickly in this environment but does not appear to be very nutritious.



I wish I had the time to stop and photograph every Sociable Weavers' nest, especially at sunrise or sunset, when the light shines on them 'just right'.


A Tractor stands on the edge of one of the massive farms found in this area.

I'm not sure of it was meant to serve as a farm-marker or if it had broken-down ... it looks like it's in workable condition though. Notice the Coke Can 'muffler' on the exhaust-pipe ...



A bridge over the Kuiseb River which only flows after good rain in the catchment area.

This is the area where the author of The Sheltering Desert, together with his friend and a dog, survived for more than two years at the outbreak of the Second World War.

In the pic you can see the ruins of two rock huts - I doubt that these were their shelters though.





A flash-Flood had passed this way only hours before ... the road was rough in places because of the unusually good rains.


I don't know what the yellow flowers are that grow on the southern side of some of the hills near Karibib but, they make them look very pretty.

I'll be taking Megan to Capetown next week where she's due to take a return flight to London.


.

29 comments:

  1. The pictures are so beautiful anyway - amazing how digital photography can cope with anything. In film days if you had used 1600 film you would have been able to count the dots! I don't think they suffer from graininess - perhaps just a slight loss of saturation. What always comes across in your posts about Namibia is that it's full of ghosts. So interesting.
    Caroline

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  2. Thanks Caroline - I hope you're well ...

    I don't know much about the 'saturation' editor on my programme - I usually darken and sharpen images slightly ... I've noticed, when viewing Namibia pics on the nternet, that many people darken their images a LOT which results in pretty but unrealistic images ...

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  3. Good to have you back.
    I would be more than happy with these photos, they are stunning. I so miss weavers of any kind over here. I was always fascinated watching them build nests.
    Love the corrugated roof over the tractor!
    Hope you had a great time with your daughter I am sure you will be sorry to see her leave again. Take care Diane

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  4. Amazing landscape! Does your daughter miss living in Namibia?

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  5. Thanks Diane - yes, it's great seeing Meg again ... I'm actually surprised that she doesn't speak with an English accent ... and, omygosh! ... she's so lilywhite ... :) ... I hope she picks up a bit of a tan while she's here ...

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  6. Thanks Monica, I'm sure you could spend weeks here painting and/or taking photographs ...

    ... there was a question asked on one of the local radio stations: 'What do you like most about living in Namibia?' ... my answer, which sprung to mind immediately, was 'Because there are so few people living here' - Namibia is, after Mongolia, the second least populated country in the World ...

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  7. sorry about not answering your question Monica ... yes, she remarked how much she misses the wide open spaces ...

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  8. Thanks for your visit and kind comment The Echols ...

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  9. Thanks for the great photos! Amazing to see the vast beautiful spaces. I think the "communicator thingy" looks like a home built combination windmill to pump water and water tank storage? Glad you are posting again.

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  10. Thanks Callie - yes, you're right about the water storage, there are four windmills close by .... the wire array on top is what intruiges me ...

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  11. Welcome back and thank you for treating us to such wonderful photos. I don't notice any graininess in your photos, lol. Thanks too for your kind comment on my recent post. I was too lazy to correct the exposure levels.

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  12. Hi,
    Great photos as always. You've really changed my idea of Namibia. Have a great time with Megan.

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  13. Hehe ... thanks Penny, if you enlarge the pics to full-screen the grainyness is apparrent ... though I think that Caroline may be right when she says it could be a saturation problem ...

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  14. Thanks Calvin ... I hope your mind has been changed in a positive way and, if so, ... when can we expect a visit?

    :)

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  15. So much looks the same as here, particularly the yellow flowers on the hillsides. But much is different too. I'm glad you are back.

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  16. Your timing on the return to the blog is good. Blogger just went through it's worst outage in it's history (well at least my history with it)
    Good pics and stories. I like those huge boulders and the horse with no name.

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  17. This is too beautiful, spectacular landscape. It reminds me of my favorite stories of Ayla of the Clan of The Cave Bear. Do you know of the book? I think you would enjoy it. I see some color change too, from gold to green as you travel north.

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  18. Oh! You are Bach! Back? Bach. Thanks for the photographs, beautiful photographs you have taken Graham. Your daughter must be happy with the rides in the desert and your presence. Keep walking!

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  19. Do I have to use the magnifying feature on my computer to enlarge the photos to full screen? I usually click on photos in blogs to make them bigger but how large they get depends on the size they were uploaded. When I click on yours they are the same size.

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  20. Thanks Inger - yes, I've seen some images of the spectacular flower displays in the USA deserts ...

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  21. Thanks Lisleman - I caught the tail end of the Blogger outage and for awhile I thought my account had been hacked ...

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  22. Thanks Fazlisa - the north was very green but autumn colours were appearing on the hills ...

    ... I don't read that much anymore, my eyesight is failing and I find it very uncomfortable using reading glasses ... I've heard of the Clan of the Cave Bear but not read the stories ...

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  23. Haha ... thanks Oswalso ... perhaps I should have named this post 'Bach Road Through Paradise'?

    Megan is enjoying the desert and the absence of crowds ...

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  24. Hi Penny - the original images are very large so I use an image resizer to make them smaller and easier to load ... it appears that you cannot make them larger through the internet ...

    ... if you would like any of the pics I can send the originals to you ...

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  25. Beautiful photos showing beautiful scenery..we plan on visiting 'one day'...

    LG

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  26. Thanks for the visit and comment LG - Nam's just up the road from you hey, so don't wait tooo long before you visit ... :)

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  27. Dear Graham, I have missed being here at your blog. I just cannot get over you photographs. They are breathlessly beautiful. I LOVE the pastel colors (Wow!), and the vast endless space of the land. It reminds me a little of some of the places around here. We have both rugged mountains with rich forests, and then if one turns in the opposite direction there are the vast open space of the high desert. We too have the muted pastel tones of sage green, soft pinks and earth tones. There is very much a dream-like quality to the land, an ancient quality.

    You really are gifted with that camera. Thank you for sharing what you see in the world. Hugs, Robin

    PS I replied to your comment on my blog as well. That was SO kind of you. So wonderful to see you. :)

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  28. Thank you for your kind words Robin ... it's reat to connect with you again too ...

    ... I think I would feel at home in the American deserts ...

    ... sometimes I have to check myself because I realise that I'm so hung-up capturing images that I actually don't 'see' anything at all ...

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